The Hospital Hill run is a challenging Kansas City race known to locals and runners from around the country as one of the toughest half marathon courses due to the number of hills and warm weather. If you talk to any of its race finishers who “conquered the hill” they will tell you it’s the kind of race you dread to do but is completely worth doing – as any other half seems easy compared to it. Right after my first half in St Louis I signed up for this race, but knew it was going to be hard.

Since being home, I have been training with Runner’s Edge running group with my mom (who also ran the race) and had been keeping up my mileage. My longest run before my first half was 10 miles, but for this race I did a 12 miler. I learned a lesson the week before the race when I experienced some bad soreness following a cardio pilates class. I decided to take the week before the half off of running to rest my legs – something that really made me nervous. You technically shouldn’t lose any endurance with 5-7 days off, but I kept worrying all week that I was going to be out of shape by the time of the race! Note to self – no spurr of the moment work out classes before a race!!

Luckily, the race went really well. The hills made my legs hurt early on but nothing I couldn’t handle. I started out slow and gradually increased my speed. My goal was a 2:25 time – I knew 80 degree weather and hills would make me a little slower than my 2:09 time from the Go STL half. However, I finished at 2:14 (10:19 avg pace) I was so happy!

After finishing two half marathons, I am now looking for a flat race that I can train to finish under 2 hours. Any suggestions?

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One response to “hospital hill race recap”

Congrats on the run! It was a fun one, wasn’t it?
Depending on your time frame for another half:
There isn’t much in the KC area that I know of in the hot summer months (thank goodness.)
The Gobbler Grind in November runs along the Indian Creek Trail starting at Corporate Woods, and is mostly flat.
In the spring, the Olathe half is a pancake-flat PR machine, albeit a bit boring. There’s also Rock the Parkway, which has a few hills but nothing compared to what you endured this weekend!
Looking forward to reading more about your training!